Nicole, over to you.

Okay.

Well, thank you very much, Jonathan.

And well, today I have the great pleasure of speaking with Professor Frank Holtz.

He's past president of Uretina, as you already mentioned, and the leading figure in retinal research and particularly in age-related macular degeneration.

Frank, you are a professor and chairman of the Department of Ophthalmology at the University of Bonn.

And you have this position since 2003.

in this relatively slow progressing disease to pick out those who are a bit faster and you come up with reasonable results as we learn then later with complementary inhibitors and other therapeutic agents that you can have a meaningful result and look already at 12 or 24 months.

Nicole, you might first start off by explaining what exactly EIS is and why this is a separate event from Uretina.

I think EIS was born out of the recognition that innovation in ophthalmology is moving faster than ever before.

And we needed a place where everyone can be involved in that journey and can come together.

And of course, scientific meetings like Euretina are fantastic for presenting new clinical data, but innovation is about much more than science alone.

So you need clinicians and industry regulators.

investors, entrepreneurs and researchers all talking to each other.

And those conversations, if they don't happen, great ideas are not developing and they will never reach our patients.

Nicole, how significant is it that Jane Mosley from the European Medicines Agency is returning? Because to have her as a speaker last year was wonderful, but it really says something that she's come back because this is obviously something that the EMA sees as an important event.

Why is it important to involve everybody in this survey, not just the women researchers, women clinicians, women retina specialists?

Yeah, well, because improving opportunity and representation is not a woman's issue.

I mean, it's a community issue.

And the retina field benefits when the best ideas, perspectives and talents are fully represented.

And so therefore, we need everyone.

We need all the men to support this and meaningful change requires participation from everyone, especially because leadership positions, mentorship networks and decision making structures involve both women and men.

And men are colleagues, mentors, sponsors, department heads and leaders who can help create an environment where talent is recognized and supported.

When you look back on this time, on this survey, what do you hope to be able to say this work achieved?